Blog:No small beer for Italdesign

This is an interesting ad featuring a Roman taxi driver and highlighting the clever people at Italdesign Giugiaro in Turin.

It's actually for Corona Extra beer but its star attraction is the extraordinary Italdesign Quaranta prototype based on the 1968 Bizzrrina Manta.

Quite apart from referencing every Italian cliché in the book - pasta, Italian man still with mama, Italian man gesturing wildly and making sure his hair looks good - the car itself is absolutely stunning.

The ad itself is actually pretty good though - the Roman backdrop firmly associates the core brand with luxury and heritage - although would anyone know it's Italdesign behind the motor?

And it ends with a humorous shot of the cabbie getting in a taxi himself having - presumably - had to give the Quaranta back.

Should Corona decide to expand the concept maybe they could do a UK ad with a London cabbie driving through a pea-soup fog, past rows of bowler-hatted, umbrella-carrying city folk walking across Westminster Bridge.

Come to think of it, Corona and Italdesign could take the concept around the world - supercar versions of the black cab/2CV/Zil limo/Chevvy etc?

Given the startling complexity of obtaining a journalist visa for China - the code 'J2' is now indelibly stamped on my mind - it was with some surprise how swiftly I managed to sail through airport im...